Beam and plate rolling mill



Oct. 19, 1965 M. P. SIEGER 3,212,314

BEAM AND PLATE ROLLING MILL Filed Oct. 20. 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 94 Wain;

Oct. 19, 1965 M. P. SIEGER 3,212,314

BEAM AND PLATE ROLLING MILL Filed Oct. 20, 1961 S'Sheets-Sheet 2 JNVENTOR. MAMQ/CE P. 5/565? Jaw ATTORNEY Oct. 19, 1965 M. P. SIEGER 35212314 BEAM AND PLATE ROLLING MILL Filed Oct. 20, 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 rdd ATTORNEY Oct. 19, 1965 M. P. SIEGER BEAM AND PLATE ROLLING MILL 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Oct. 20, 1961 .6. 42 INVENTOR.

14 flak ATTORNEY Oct. 19, 1965 M. P. SIEGER 3,212,314

BEAM AND PLATE ROLLING MILL Filed Oct. 20. 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 ,L ZQ WW2; 7 ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,212,314 BEAM AND PLATE RGLLING MILL Maurice P. Sieger, Upper St. Clair Township, Allegheny (Iouuty, Pa., assignor to United Engineering and Foundry Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Oct. 20, 1961, Ser. No. 146,580 11 Claims. (Cl. 72-225) This invention relates to an improved rolling mill and, particularly, to a mill adapted to produce workpieces having varying characteristics, which mill, dependent upon the workpiece desired to be produced, contains rolls of the length required for the operation and being so constructed as to support adequately rolls of minimum lengths.

In the design of present-day rolling mills such as, for example, mills for producing plates and beams of greatly varying widths, in view of the great variation in the width of the products rolled, it is economical and in other cases absolutely necessary to provide rolls with varying rollbody portions. This is particularly true with respect to a universal beam mill for producing wide-flange beams. Present-day beam mills of this type may be classified as mills having fixed, movable, or set-up housings.

In the fixed housing type of mill, as the name implies, the housings are rigidly secured to a foundation so that all of the rolls for the various size products must be made of the same length, notwithstanding the fact that only relatively short portions of the rolls are utilized for rolling narrower web beams. While this type of mill has the advantage of being very rigid thus assuring that the desired tolerances of the beam can be more readily realized, since the housings thereof are stationary, it has one very serious disadvantage in that the rolls are unnecessarily long thus resulting in a substantial unnecessary capital outlay.

In an attempt to avoid this economical loss, some mills have been constructed with movable housings, that is to say, the housings are transversely adjustable relative to the mills pass line. In this manner, since the housings can be moved relative to each other, the length of the rolls can be made commensurate with the actual length necessary to produce a given size beam. However, this advantage is rather questionable in that considerable time is lost in non-productive effort, in view of the factthat the mill must be rendered inoperative in order to adjust the housings to accept a new set of rolls having a different length from those embodied in the previous operation. There is also a substantial labor factor involved in accomplishing the roll-changing operation in a mill of this type. Moreover, on this type of mill, the tolerances of the rolled beam are not as readily attainable as in the case of. a mill having fixed housings.

It is because of the aforesaid limitations and disadvantages that set-up mills have been provided on occasion. These set-up mills constitute an exact duplicate of an operating mill, except that a different set of rolls is inserted therein at a place remote from the operating mill. When it is desired to change the rolls of the operating mill, the operating mill, including its rolls is bodily removed from the operating position and replaced by the set-up mill. While this operation has the significant advantage of re ducing losses in productive time incident to changing the rolls to a minimum in comparison with the two other types of mills hereinbefore discussed, this advantage again is offset by the initial capital outlay required which is substantial. In addition to the added expense represented by the set-up mill itself, in order to be able to remove and replace the entire mill, a heavy mill crane is needed, thereby greatly increasing the size of the entire mill building. The overall effect of the aforesaid economic factors re- 3,212,314 Patented Oct. 19, 1965 duces considerably the significance of the advantage real ized from the use of the set-up type of mill.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a rolling mill, which, in addition to being free from each and every one of the aforesaid limitations and deficiencies, has certain other significant advantages that make it substantially more economical to construct and operate than present-day mills. This object is attained by providing a novel manner for supporting the rolls of the mill so as to permit at all times the employment of rolls having lengths that are precisely commensurate with the length characteristic of the workpiece being produced.

The rolls, according to the teaching of the present invention, are engaged by a roll-supporting means which is interposed between the bearing-chock assemblies of the rolls and the mill screws or housings. Consequently, the bearing-chock assemblies are freely positioned along the length of the supporting means, which, depending on the length of the rolls, may be located directly under the mill screws or spaced relatively thereto. In this manner not only can the lengths of the rolls be maintained at the very minimum with a substantial resulting economic saving, but the need of set-up mills is completely eliminated, with the added feature that the housings thereof need not be movable relative to each other.

It is another object of the present invention, incident to the roll-supporting means herein disclosed, to provide a construction whereby the rolls can be quickly and efficiently removed from and inserted into the mill.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a novel arrangement for securing the bearing-chock assemblies and thrust-bearing assemblies of the varying length rolls to the housings and for providing means for quickly adjusting the rolls axially relative to each other.

It is still a further object of this invention to provide an improved thrust-bearing arrangement, wherebythe bearing will be rendered free from the vertical forces caused by wearing on the radial bearing and which arrangement will have means for maintaining the thrust-receiving elements of the thrust bearing in tight engagement with each other.

In one application of the present invention as involved in a universal beam mill, it was made possible to roll not only a full range of wide-flange beams but 'also standard size beams with each and every one of the aforesaid advantages being fully realized.

These objects, as wellas the other novel features and advantages of the present invention, will be more fully understood when the following description is read in light of the accompanying drawings of which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational sectional view taken on lines 1-1 of FIGURE 2 of a combination universal wide-flange and structural beam mill illustrating certain features of the present invention,

FIGURE 1a is a continuation of FIGURE 1, partly in section, illustrating the spindles and driving arrangement of the mill,

FIGURE 2 is an end elevational view, partly in section, of the mill shown in FIGURE 1, but with the horizontal rolls separated from each other,

FIGURE 3 is a horizontal-sectional view taken on lines IIIIII of FIGURE 2, but with different length rolls being shown, illustrating, along with other features of the present invention, the horizontal roll-retaining means employed for one range of roll lengths,

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on lines IV--IV of FIGURE 3,

FIGURES 5a and 5b are partial horizontal sectional views similar to the left-hand side of FIGURE 3 of two other horizontal roll-retaining means employed for two diiferent ranges of roll lengths,

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged partial elevational view of a portion of the mill shown in FIGURE 2, illustrating the roll-carrying beam latching device employed on the drive side of the mill and showing the top roll-carrying beam in the roll-changing position,

FIGURE 7 is a partial horizontal sectional view taken on lines VII-VII of FIGURE 6,

FIGURE 8 is a partial vertical sectional view taken on lines VIIIVIII of FIGURE 6,

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of a portion of the mill illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2 taken on lines IXIX of FIGURE 10, showing the workpiece guides and bars for interconnecting the chocks,

FIGURE 10 is a vertical sectional view taken on lines XX of FIGURE 9 and,

FIGURES 11a, 11b, 11c and 11d are vertical schematic views, illustrating several of the pairs of various length rolls which are employed in the mill illustrated in the earlier figures and, particularly, the relative positions that certain major parts of the mill assume for the particular length rolls shown.

The mill and the horizontal roll components thereof With reference to FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings there is illustrated a combination wide-flange and structural beam mill 10 incorporating the features of the present invention, comprising a pair of vertically arranged spaced-apart mill housings 11 and 12 rigidly secured at their lower ends to bed plates 13 and connected together both at their upper and lower ends by horizontally disposed separators 14 and 15, the separators being only shown in FIGURE 1. The housings are provided with elongated windows 16, having bearing liners mounted therein, into which there are received chocks 17 and 18, including their babbit bearings 19 and 21., respectively, for supporting a pair of horizontal rolls 22 and 23. The particular rolls shown in FIG- URES 1 and 2 are designed to roll one of the larger size wide-flange beams.

Extending horizontally between the housings 11 and 12, at the top and bottom of the windows 16, are rigid beams 24 and 25. As best shown in FIGURE 2, the upper beam 24 is formed with a central downwardly extending portion which in addition to having a relatively wide fiat-load receiving surface 26 has two horizontal projections 27, both the surface and projections extending over the entire length of the beam. The upper chocks 17 and 18 have indented slots 28 formed on their upper ends, each including two horizontal projections 29, which in certain instances slide over and are carried by the upper surfaces of the projections 27 of the beam 24. It will be noted that the lower surface of the slots 28 form load-transferring surfaces 31, which during the rolling operation engage with the surface 26 of the beam 24 and transfer the vertical rolling load thereto.

With respect to the lower beam-chock construction, with further reference to FIGURE 2, the beam 25 has a raised central portion 32, the top surface 33 thereof being of a substantial width and constituting a load receiving surface which is engaged by complementary surfaces 34 formed by centrally located recesses provided at the bottom of the lower chocks 17 and 18. The vertical walls of the recesses serve as guiding surfaces for the chocks when they are moved axially along the beam.

In the case of the lower beam 25, and as best shown in FIGURE 1, the lower outer surfaces thereof are engaged by a pair of adjusting screws 35, provided for vertically adjusting the lower roll 23 and which are mounted in the bottoms of the housings 11 and 12. With respect to the upper beam 24, the two opposite upper ends there of are provided with recesses 36 into which are received for engagement with the bottom surfaces thereof enlarged portions of a pair of screws 37 vertically arranged in the tops of the housings 11 and 12 and provided for adjusting the upper roll 22. The upper and lower ends of the screws 37 and 35, respectively, are splined and connected to gear wheels 38 which mesh with gear worms 39, these elements being only shown at the bottom of FIGURE 2. The worm-wheel sets, in the customary manner, are driven by electrical motors 41, one of which is shown at the top right-hand side of FIGURE 1.

With further reference to the beams 24 and 25, and as best illustrated in FIGURE 2, it will be noted that they are provided with parallel vertically extending legs 42 which protrude through the windows 16 of both of the housings 11 and 12 and engage the vertical adjacent surfaces thereof. In this manner the beams are guided and restrained in their vertical travel. Keeper plates 43, shown at the left-hand side of FIGURE 2 are provided for preventing the beams from moving axially relative to the rolls 22 and 23.

In order to prevent the chocks 17 and 18 from moving to the left and right in the planes containing their horizontal axes and as one views FIGURE 2, two pair of rigid cross members 44 are connected to and extend between the inner vertical walls of the housings 11 and 12 above and below mill pass line. These members, best shown on FIGURES 2 and 3, are provided with vertical lined surfaces which are made of sufficient height so as to provide an adequate supporting surface for the entire surfaces of the vertical walls of the chocks 17 and 18. As will be observed in FIGURE 3, only the chocks of the rolls provided for rolling the smaller beams will be in total engagement with the members 44, since the chocks of the rolls for the larger size beams will at least extend partly into the windows 16 and as a result be in engagement with the housings 11 and 12. By this construction, the chocks of all length rolls are adequately supported against the horizontal components of the rolling load.

As shown only on the left-hand side of FIGURE 2, a pair of keeper plates 45 is provided for each roll 22 and 23, being secured to the outside vertical faces of only the housing 11 and which extend beyond the windOWs 16 for engagement with a part of the roll retaining means to be explained later and by which means the chocks are restrained from moving axially in the direction containing the axes of the rolls.

With reference still to FIGURES 1 and 2, connected to and supported by the top separator 14 is a centrally arranged piston cylinder assembly 46 having its outer piston end extending toward the top of the mill. To the outer end of the piston there is secured an arm 47, as shown in FIGURE 2, extendable in a horizontal direction parallel to the two housings 11 and 12. To each end of the arm 47 there are connected vertically extending bars 48. The bars 48 pass through both the top separator 14 and the upper beam 24 and are formed with projections 49 at their lower ends, which. projections extend toward each other. In engagement with the projections 49 of the bars 48 are complementary projections 51 formed at the upper ends of links 52. The lower ends of the links 52 are provided with additional projections 53 which engage the lower surface of the bearing caps 54 of the upper bearings 19 and 21 provided for the upper horizontal roll 22 of the mill.

It will be appreciated in this construction that when fluid is admitted to the piston cylinder assembly 46 to urge its piston in an upward direction, the upward force imposed on the bars 48 and links 52 will not only assure that the bearings 19 and 21 of the upper horizontal roll 22 are maintained in their proper operating positions, but will also urge upwardly the upper roll 22 thereby bringing the load transfer surface 31 of the chocks 17 and 18 into engagement with the load receiving surfaces 26 of the beam 24. Hence, the beam will be urged into tight contact with the bottom of the screws 37. By reason of this construction, not only are the rolling loads transferred to the housings 11 and 12 but accurate adjustment of the upper roll 22 is assured.

With respect to the lower horizontal roll 23, the surfaces 33 and 34 of the beam 25 and of the checks 17, 18, respectively, are urged into contact with each other by virtue of the Weight of the roll assembly 23 and the rolling loads, thus the rolling loads in the downward direction are transferred to the housings 11 and 12 and accurate adjustment of the roll 23 is assured.

In addition to the feature of the beams 24 and 25 providing a novel way of positioning of the chocks 17 and 18 along its length depending of the particular length of the horizontal rolls being employed in the mill, it is also a feature of the beams to enhance the speed and efficiency at which the horizontal roll can be removed from and replaced into the mill. In this connection and with respect to the lower roll 23, a pair of stops 55, shown only in FIGURE 2, are provided at the bottom of each of the windows 16 of each housing 11 and 12 against which the lower surface of the beam 25 engages when the screws 35 are retracted. In this way the beam can be made to register itself with a roll-changing device, not shown, which is positioned at the operating side of the mill. Once the vertical rolls have been removed, the keeper plates 45 are retracted and the various other elements disconnected, such as, the lubrication lines, etc., the roll with its chocks 17 and 18 can he slid over the beam 25 onto the awaiting roll-changing device. The raised central portion 32 will guide the roll assembly during this travel.

With respect to the upper roll 22, a best shown in FIGURES 2, 6, 7 and 8, a pair of stops 56 are provided at the top of each of the windows of the housings 11 and 12 which are engaged by the upper surface of the beam 24. On portions of each outer face of the legs 42 of the upper beam 24 that extends through the housing 11 and at the lower ends thereof projects 57 are provided. These projections extend in the same direction as the axis of the roll 22. To the outside faces on each side of the housings 11 and 12, piston cylinder assemblies 53 are provided. By way of illustration reference will be made to one of the cylinder arrangements located on the housing 12 which is shown on FIGURES 6, 7 and 8. To the outer end of the piston, there is secured a slidable block 59 which, on operation of the cylinder in one direction, is caused to extend beyond the window 16 of the housing and constitutes a latching device. As shown in FIGURES 6 and 8, a C shaped plate 60 serves to guide the block 59 in its reciprocal movement. In the roll changing of the upper roll 22, the screws 37 are operated to raise the roll until the projections 57 of the beam 24 pass above the upper surfaces of the blocks 59 connected to the piston cylinder assemblies 58 until the beam engages the stops 56. Once this occurs the piston cylinder assemblies 58 can be operated to cause the blocks 59 to extend beyond the windows 16, after which the beam 24 can be lowered and caused to engage the blocks 59. In this manner, since in the roll-changing operation the pressure of the balance piston cylinder assembly 46 is interrupted, the load represented by the weights of the beam 24 and roll assembly is taken off the screws 37. In addition, the latching devices will serve to position the beam 24 at a predetermined elevation whereby it can be automatically aligned with a rollchanging device, not shown.

The driving arrangement for the horizontal rolls With reference to FIGURES 1 and la, it will be noted that on each of the driving ends of the horizontal rolls 22 and 23 couplings 61 and 62, respectively, are provided. These couplings are connected to spindles 63 and 64 by universal joints, the other end of the spindles being connected in driving relationship to the pinions of a pinion stand 65 as shown in FIGURE 1a. The usual spindle balancing spindle supporting mechanism 66 is provided for adjusting the vertical positions of the spindles. In view of the fact that pairs of different length rolls are employed in the mill 10, the distance between the ends of these rolls and the spindles 63 and 64, should the latter not be adjusted, would change. Therefore, means are provided for adjusting the spindles relative to the housing 12, whereby the couplings 61 and 62 can be brought into their proper operating positions with respect to the ends of different length rolls.

This means includes a motor-gear unit 67 provided for driving a shaft 68, the shaft having a threaded portion which is received in a non-rotatable nut 69 located at the bottom and constructed as a part of the pinion stand 65. The pinion stand is mounted on and slidable over a pair of parallel rails 71. These rails also serve to support the spindle balancing mechanism 66, the latter being connected to the pinion stand by a pair of parallel links 72 and by virtue of which these two elements move together on rotating of the shaft 68. In the employment of the aforesaid means, when a new set of rolls is inserted into the mill, having a length different from the replaced rolls, the motor-gear unit 67 is operated to move the spindles 63 and 64 relative to the mill thereby to bring their couplings 61 and 62, respectively, into their proper operating positions.

The vertical roll assembly of the mill With reference to the vertical roll assemblies of the illustrated universal beam mill 10, the vertical housings 11 and 12 thereof are provided with integral wings 73 and 74 which project horizontally outward from the opposite sides of the vertical housings, this construction being best shown in FIGURE 1. These wings are provided with rectangular shaped vertical openings which have formed on their parallel vertical walls upper and lower bearing lined ledges 70, shown only in FIGURE 2, for supporting and guiding the rectangular shaped horizontally disposed chocks 75 and 76 of the vertical non-driven rolls 77 and 78. The bearing lined ledges 70 of the wings 73 and 74 are continued through the housings 11 and 12 for the total distance of the lateral travel of the rolls 77 and 78. Each vertical roll is mounted on non-rotative shafts 79 to which there are secured bearings 81, these elements being only shown on the right-hand side of FIGURE 1.

The necessary lateral travel for the vertical rolls 77 and 78 is obtained by providing for each roll a pair of separate screws 82 and 83 which are received in the wings 73 and 74. The two pairs of screws 82 and 83 are driven in the customary manner and maybe mechanically tied together to insure synchronization in the'movements of the rolls 77 and 78. The description of the components of the vertical roll assemblies has been purposely made brief and reference to certain other elements has been entirely omitted in view of the fact that the design and operation of the assemblies follows well-known technology and, therefore, a full description thereof is not deemed necessary to understand the present invention.

Thrust bearing arrangement With reference to FIGURES 3 and 4 of the drawings, there is illustrated the mill bearing arrangement provided on the operating side thereof for the upper roll. The roll 84 shown in these figures differs from the upper roll shown in FIGURES l and 2 in that it is designed to roll a narrower size beam. It is to be understood that a similar bearing arrangement is provided for the lower roll. The previously referred to radial bearing 19 of the chock 17 is received on the journal 85 of the roll 84. On the extreme end of the roll a thrust bearing 86 is secured thereto by means of a bearing housing 87 and retainer ring 88.

It is a feature of this invention to provide a bearing construction that will permit the thrust bearing to be tightly retained against axial movement by the checks 17 but yet allow it to move vertically relative thereto. This action is necessary since otherwise on wear of the babbit bearings 19 and 21, the roll 84 would be allowed to move vertically thereby to cause objectionable vertical forces to be imposed upon the thrust bearing. To obviate this condition, the chock 17 is formed with an extending portion 89 which is provided with a rectangularly shaped opening 91 on its upper outer surface for receiving the entire thrust-bearing assembly 36. The opening 91 is indented at two of its opposite sides into which indented portions there is provided on the one side of the chocks vertically extending. fixed bearing blocks 92. On the other side, adjustable bearing blocks 93 are provided. As shown in FIGURE.4, the adjustable bearing blocks 93 consist of Wedges, their upper ends being formed with right angle portions through which bolts 94 pass to connect the blocks to the extended portion 89 of the chock 17 and by which means the wedges are adjusted to assure that the various cooperative elements of the thrust bearing and chock will always be in positive contact with each other.

Again as shown in FIGURE 4, in engagement with the bearing blocks 92 and 93 of the chock are complementary bearing blocks 95 secured to vertical surfaces formed on the housing 87. These blocks diifer from the blocks 92 and 93 in that their surfaces are tapered in their vertical planes so as to make only line contact with the blocks 92 and 93. This line contact between the bearing blocks is designed to permit the thrust bearing ,86 to move vertically with the roll on the experience of wear of the babbit bearings 19 and thus relieve the thrust bearing from any vertical forces incident thereto.

On the drive side of the mill, the horizontal rolls are not provided with thrust bearings but have only radial babbit bearings, similar in construction to the bearings 19. Nor is it necessary to provide roll retaining means for the rolls at the drive side of the mill. This is because the chocks 17 of the operating side of the mill are rigidly connected to the chocks 18 of the drive side by bars 96 arranged on each side of the pass line, two for each pair of chocks. By this construction only the thrust bearings and roll-retaining means employed on the operating side of the mill hold the rolls against axial movement.

As best shown in FIGURES 9 and 10, on the inner opposite sides of the chocks 17 and 18 there are provided projections 97 including vertically formed slots 98 into which are received the ends of the bars 96 and by which means the pairs of chocks are interconnected. In this manner the chocks on the drive side of the mill need not be directly secured to the adjacent housing 12; instead they are held in their operative position by virtue of the fact that they are directly connected to the chocks on the operating side of the mill which, in turn, are connected to the housing 11. It is to be pointed out that the bars not only eliminate the need of incorporating retaining means on the drive side of the mill, but, in addition their employment also makes it possible for the chocks to be preassembled on the roll journals at their exact operating positions prior to placement of the rolls in the mill. Another feature incident to the use of the bars 96 is that the work piece stripper guides 99, shown only in FIGURES 9 and 10, can be constructed to be carried by the bars, whereby these guides can be removed with the rolls and arranged in the proper operating position prior to insertion of the rolls into the mill. These advantages assist in keeping at a minimum the lost time otherwise required for roll changing.

Horizontal roll-retaining means it is held by a nut 104 carried by the adjacent portion of the screw 103. Once assembled, the nut 104 is rigidly secured to the screw and will rotate with it, thereby assuring that the tight connection between the chock 17 and screw 103 will always be maintained. The screw 103 is carried by a roll-retaining arm 105 for which purpose the arm is provided with an opening 106 through which the screw unrestrictedly passes. Nuts 107 and 108 are provided on the screw 103 and arranged to engage the opposite sides of the arm 105, by which construction the screw is held in its proper position.

The roll illustrated in FIGURE 3 represents one of the shorter lengths employed in the mill. This being the case, the ends of the roll will fall between the inner faces of the housings 11 and 12. As a result, the configuration of the arm 105 is made straight, the length of the screw 103 being sutficiently long to bridge the distance between the end of the chock and the arm. When longer length rolls are to be employed in the mill, as will be discussed later, the arm shown in FIGURE 3 will be replaced by another arm designed to extend out from the housing 11 thereby providing for the necessary allowance for the increased roll length while at the same time permitting a single given length screw to be employed.

The opposite ends of the arm extend beyond the inner surfaces of the housing 11 and are secured thereto by the previously mentioned keeper plates 45 which are secured to the housing. The arm 105 is provided with two horizontally arranged square shaped holes 109 through which pass parallel projections 111 formed as an integral part of the chock 17. These projections are provided to prevent any tendency of the arm to rotate relative to the screw 103. It will be observed that the projections 111 are made suifieiently long so as to enable the projections to extend through the arm 105 for the entire range of roll lengths.

On either side of the screw 103, the arm 105 has formed thereon integral piston cylinder assemblies 112, which construction is best shown on the right-hand side of FIGURE 3. The outer ends of the pistons are connected to the chock 17 so that once the nuts 107 and 108 are rotated away from the arm 105, the chock 17 and roll 84 including the screw 103 can be quickly moved in an axial direction. In this manner any necessary adjustment of the roll 84 relative to the lower roll can be quickly and automatically accomplished. Once the adjustment has been made, either or both of the nuts 107 and 108 will be tightened to connect the screw 103 rigidly to the arm 105 and thus assure that any axial displacement of the roll will be prevented.

With reference now to FIGURES 5a and 5b, there is illustrated two other roll-retaining arm assemblies provided for use with the remainder of the pairs of varying length rolls employed in the mill. In FIGURE 5a it will be noted that the configuration of the arm 113 provided for this arrangement is not straight as in the case of the arm 105, but the portion of the arm in which the opening 114 is provided for supporting the screw 103 is arranged farther away from the housing 11 than in the case of the arm 105. Arm 113 is designed to be used with the length of rolls for rolling the middle range of beams.

In FIGURE 5b the arm 115 is formed in the shape of a U having its opening 116 for supporting the screw 103 much farther away from the housing 11 than either of the arms 105 or 113. The arm 116 is designed for use with the length of rolls for rolling structural beams.

It will thus be appreciated that by employing the replaceable arms 105, 115 and 113, the screw 103 may be kept at a single given length and still be effective for the extremely wide range of different length rolls.

Now with reference to the diagrammatical drawings of FIGURES 11a, b, c and d, there is illustrated in these figures, in connection with several ditferent length rolls, the relative positions of the major components of the mill in relation to the roll-supporting beams 24. Each drawing illustrates schematically a universal finishing mill designed to roll both wide-flange and structural beams 9 and in each case only the top horizontal roll, a portion of the bottom roll, the chocks of the top roll 17 and 18, the vertical rolls 77 and 78, the upper beams 24 and the upper mill screws 37 are shown. Certain center lines of some of the elements are indicated in order to aid in illustrating the relative positions of the elements.

FIGURE 11a illustrates horizontal rolls 117 and 118 designed to roll one of the smallest size wide-flange beams. As indicated, the length of the rolls in this case can be maintained at a very minimum since the chocks 17 and 18 thereof can be positioned along the beam 24 and yet be adequately supported.

With reference to FIGURES 11b and 110, horizontal rolls 119 and 121 of FIGURE 11b and rolls 122 and 123 of FIGURE 110 are designed to roll the intermediate and full width wide-flange beams, respectively. Here, again, the minimum length rolls are shown employed with their chocks 17 and 18 positioned along the beam 24.

In considering FIGURE 11d, the greatest significance of the present invention can be appreciated with respect to providing a mill wherein minimum length rolls can be employed. This drawing shows the employment of the relatively long structural rolls 124 and 125 in the same mill for rolling wide-flange beams. In this rolling operation, it will be noted that the chocks 17 and 18 are positioned directly beneath the mill screws 37 and within the housings 11 and 12.

In each of these schematic figures, in addition to serving to exemplify the feature of the present invention wherein minimum length rolls can always be utilized, they also demonstrate the fact that the present invention permits the elimination of the need of moving the housings or alternatively employing of set-up mills.

FIGURES 11a, b, c and d also serve to point out the improved roll changing features of the present invention. In this connection it will be noted that the beam 24 will support the rolls while they are being withdrawn from and inserted into the mill from the time their ends pass into the windows. As indicated earlier, this feature greatly increases the speed at which the horizontal roll can be changed. While for the purpose of illustration, the invention has been related to a rolling mill, it will be appreciated that it may just as readily find utility in other apparatuses.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle and operation of my invention and have illustrated and described what I consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. However, I desire to have it understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. In a rolling mill comprising a pair of housings adapted to alternately receive a first roll arrangement consisting of a pair of rolls of a given length or a second roll arrangement consisting of a pair of rolls of a length diiferent from said given length,

windows in said housings into which said two roll arrangements are alternately received,

bearingchock assemblies secured to the ends of the rolls of each pair, wherein the distance varies between the assemblies of each pair of the different length rolls,

a first supporting member extending through the windows of each of said housings and engageable by the bearing-chock assemblies of one of the rolls received in said housings of an alternate pair of rolls, in a manner that the assemblies thereof can be located axially along one of said first supporting members as determined by the length of the roll,

a second supporting member extending through the windows of each of said housings and engageable by the bearing-chock assemblies of the other roll of the pair of rolls received in said housings, in a manner that the assemblies thereof can be located axially 10 along said second supporting members as determined by the length of the roll,

means for maintaining said bearing-chock assemblies of the pair of rolls received in said housings in their operative positions along said first and second members,

said first and second supporting members comprising rigid beams connected to said housings, and

means for slidably connecting said bearing-chock assemblies of the pair of rolls received in said housings to at least one of said beams.

2. In a machine according to claim 1:

wherein the means for slidably connecting the bearing-chock assemblies to said beam comprises;

members having guiding and supporting surfaces;

said surfaces extending through the windows of said housings, thereby serving to support said bearingchock assemblies and rolls when they are removed from and inserted into the mill.

3. In a machine according to claim 1:

in which said beams have portions engageable with said bearing-chock assemblies for resisting in one direction the rolling forces imposed thereon; and

means provided for resisting in another direction the rolling forces imposed on said assemblies.

4. In a machine according to claim 1:

a pair of screws arranged in said housings for adjusting one of said rolls relative to the other; and

one of each of said beams engaged by and movable with said screws.

5. In a machine according to claim 4, including means for supporting said adjustable roll, the bearingblock assemblies thereof and the beam engaged thereby and for urging said bearing-chock assemblies into contact with said beam and said beam into contact with said screws.

6. In a machine according to claim 4; including means for causing said bearing-chock assemblies of the adjustable roll to separate themselves from said engageable portions of said beam, whereby the assemblies will be supported and movable freely along the said beam.

7. In a machine according to claim 4, including a latch mounted on one of said housings and operable to engage with and support said beam when the adjustable roll is to be removed from and inserted into the mill.

8. In a rolling mill comprising a pair of housings adapted to alternately receive a first roll arrangement consisting of a pair of rolls of a given length or a second roll arrangement consisting of a pair of rolls of a length different from said given length,

windows in said housings into which said two roll arrangements are alternately received,

bearing-chock assemblies secured to the ends of the rolls of each pair, wherein the distance varies between the assemblies of each pair of different length rolls,

a screw connected to one of said bearing-chock assemblies of each roll of the pair received in said housings for axially adjusting the rolls with which it is associated,

replaceable yokes for each screw having a portion connectable to one of said housings and another portion connectable to its screw, in which for a given length of screw the distance varies between the portions connectable to the housing and the screw dependent upon the length of the alternate pair of rolls,

means for securing said screws to said yokes, and

means for quickly moving said screws.

9. In a machine according to claim 8 in which,

said yokes are provided with openings;

projections on said chocks adjacent to said yokes extending through said openings thereby to connect said yokes to said chocks.

10. In a machine for rolling workpieces'requiring cooperative pairs of rolls of difierent lengths;

a pair of housings;

windows in said housings;

a cooperative pair of rolls alternately received in said windows and establishing a rolling pass;

bearing-chock assemblies secured to the ends of each of said rolls;

two bars, one arranged above and one arranged below said rolling pass, one of said bars being secured to and connecting together the bearing-chock assemblies of one roll, and the other pair secured to and connecting together the bearing-chock assemblies of the other roll;

means for securing the bearing-chock assemblies, at

one end of said rolls, to one of said housings;

upper and lower guides for directing a workpiece into the pair of cooperative rolls; and

said guides mounted on said bars in such a manner that the rolls, bearing-chock assemblies and upper and lower guides can be inserted into and removed from the machine as a unit.

11. In a rolling mill comprising a pair of housings can be located axially along said first supporting member as determined by the length of the roll,

a second supporting member extending through the windows of each of said housings and engageable by the bearing-chock assemblies of the other roll of a pair of rolls, in a manner that the assemblies thereof can be located axially along said second supporting member as determined by the length of the roll,

means for maintaining said bearing-chock assemblies in their operative positions along said first and second supporting members,

means for driving the rolls of the alternate pairs received in said housings,

means for connecting the rolls received in said housings to the driving means, and

means for positioning the connecting means to bring the connecting means into a driving relationship with the alternate pair of rolls received in said housings, thereby compensating for the difierence in length thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS adapted to alternately receive a first roll arrangement consisting of a pair of rolls of a given length or a second X 553; 22 Egg 3; roll arrangementtconsisting of a pair of rolls of a length 2353857 7/44 St hlf th different from said given length, 2380067 7/45 u an 80 31'1 windows in said housings into which said two roll ar- 2"601793 7/52 Patterson 80-311 rangements are alternately received, 2665959 1 54 Wood 8055 bearing-chock assemblies secured to the ends of the Hyams rolls of each pair, wherein the distance varies be- 2,794,215 6/57 Dayvault 30863 tweet];1 thle1 assemblies of each pair of the different FOREIGN PATENTS mg m 919,528 10/54 Germany.

a first supporting member extending through the windows of each of said housings and engageable by the bearing-chock assemblies of one of the rolls of a pair of rolls, in a manner that the assemblies thereof WILLIAM J. STEPHENSON, Primary Examiner.

LEON PEAR, Examiner. 

10. A MACHINE FOR ROLLING WORKPIECES REQUIRING COOPERATIVE PARIS OF ROLLS OF DIFFERENT LENGTHS; A PAIR OF HOUSING; A WINDOWS IN SAID HOUSINGS; A COOPERATIVE PAIR OF ROLLS ALTERNATIVELY RECEIVED IN SAID WINDOWS AND ESTABLISHING A ROLLING PASS; BEARING-CHOCK ASSEMBLIES SECURED TO THE ENDS OF EACH OF SAID ROLLS; TOW BARS, ON ARRANGED ABOVE AND ONE ARRANGED BELOW SAID ROLLING PASS, ONE OF SAID BARS BEING SECURED TO AND CONNECTING TOGETHER THE BEARING-CHOCK ASSEMBLIES OF ONE ROLL, AND THE OTHER PARI SECURED TO AND CONNECTING TOGETHER THE BEARING-CHOCK ASSEMBLIES OF THE OTHER ROLL; MEANS FOR SECURING THE BEARING-CHOCK ASSEMBLIERS, ONE END OF SAID ROLLS, TO ONE OF SAID HOUSING; UPPER AND LOWER GUIDES FOR DIRECTING A WORKPIECE INTO THE PAIR OF COOPERATIVE ROLLS; AND 